This blog is about all the crafty endeavors I indulge in! I need somehow to be able to talk about the newest knit pattern I found or the newest ideas I have had so a blog is ideal for this!! I also hope this helps me keep track of those crazy ideas I get in the middle of the night when my friend, Insomnia, visits.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

I live in Virginia and if there is a tv in the US that is not talking about the "rare" Earthquake that happened yesterday than either a.) you have changed it becuase you are sick of the media making a big fuss; b.) you do not own a tv and/or it is not turned on; OR c.) your watching something else. So the point I am trying to make is that yesterday, Aug. 23rd 2011 a 5.9 earthquake occurred at 1:51 pm EST. I live south of where the actual earthquakes epicenter was but still felt it. Here is how it happened at my house:
Noon: my great-niece who is 2 asks me to take a nap. I happily oblige because she is 2 and asked for a nap and because it is a nap! Who can pass up a nap??
1:15: We are finally asleep after an hour and fifteen minutes of kissing a teeny, tiny boo-boo on her finger that she insists was caused by her 17 year old uncle biting her AND talking about my eyebrows and their locations. Also for some reason she insisted on talking about the dog going potty outside and not in the BIG GIRL POT-POT.
1:51: EARTHQUAKE! At first I thought it was a train going by, because, well I live across from a train track. Seriously. The train is literally right across the street! I look up because I realize that the train is shaking the house TOO much and from side-to-side and I see my mom's doll SHAKING forward on the shelf. Also all of my piggy banks (I collect them!) were CLANKING on their shelf. I jump up because my head is screaming: EARTHQUAKE!!! And I run out of the bedroom screaming my 10 year old nieces name. I look out the window and see a train...BUT the top of the train cars look like they are pitching over. My 10 year old niece is standing at the front door looking out: "WHAT IS GOING ON?" she screams. "I think we are having an earthquake!" I tell her. She looks at me like I grew another head....by now the house has stopped shaking.
I turn on the news and there is nothing on about an earthquake. My niece flips open her brand-new birthday present (she turned 10 on Aug. 13th) Nintendo 3DSi and begins reading on the Internet that there was an earthquake. The news finally breaks through the soap operas to talk about the earthquake. Thankfully, after the phone lines resume working I find out that my family is safe...
This morning I find out that there have been aftershocks that are nearly as strong as the original quake and that there has been damage, especially close to the epicenter: Mineral, Va. Also people from South Carolina to Rhode Island felt the quake as well as out West in Detroit and Indiana. So far as I write this no deaths have been reported although people did report having heart attacks and strokes because of the quake. There has been a lot of property damage mainly by the epicenter and thankfully no one in my family had any damage to report (although my piggy banks did all need to be pushed BACK on their shelf!)
The last earthquake I remember in Va was in 2003. All I remember about that is the floor felt like it was rolling for a second and then it was over. Of course, that earthquake was only like a 4.1 and the epicenter was no where near my house so it really didn't matter. Yesterday was....interesting....
So what's your earthquake story???

Sunday, August 21, 2011

I would like to thank my new friend, Aly, for asking me to be a contributor to her blog, knitme. I cannot wait to contribute to her blog! I am not sure if this is going to be a daily, weekly, or monthly contribution but would be happy even if I just did it once. Check out her blog with the link above! She has a TON of great knitting projects of the toy/softie/plushie variety (I love the traffic cone!)
Another exciting piece of news has to be the fact that I think I am out of my slump! I have not been able to start/finish/continue on any of my knitting projects for about 2-3 weeks. Of course, I freaked out and went to Ravelry for sympathy/kick in the butt and found it. I was reassured by all the great people on there that I would get over it. Last night, I began knitting: Christmas cards! I have a copy of last years Simply Knitting's Christmas edition that has 3 cute Christmas cards showcased. The first one (in the magazine) is a white bell with a tan bow and clanger (it is beaded but mine will not be) on a piece of red glittery cardstock. The next card in the magazine is also on red cardstock but is a fuzzy Christmas tree (mine will not be fuzzy). The last one has 3 knitted Christmas balls...one oblong and two round with sequins in the middle (mine will not have sequins) and they are on a piece of green cardstock. I have made a red round Christmas ball and the bell while watching t.v. last night...they are really easy because they are knit flat and are as small as the palm of your hand.
I think my cards will be a hit because no one has ever got a card like that from me before. I usually buy the big box of bulk cards at the beginning of December and then forget to send them until right around the holidays. Most often I rush to hand them out because it is too late to mail them! I cannot wait to find another spare moment to work on theses cards! I am using glittery yarn in acrylic and cotton and have all kinds of ideas about what I am going to do. Some ideas I have are making the ornaments 3-D or starching them so people can use them on their trees or I could bead them or I can make them multi-colored or I could....OH BOY...the possibilities are endless.....
Stay tuned for pics!!!!

This little Droid was another cute find in the Ravelry databases! I whipped him up in about a half a day. The neon green wool was found at Goodwill for $1.25 and is unnamed, the black for his mouth is actually a really pretty glitter Vanna Choice yarn. He now lives in 29 Palms, Ca with my Marine niece because all of her friends always tease her about having a Sprint Android cellphone while they all have iPhones! I put him in front of a coffee cup to show how "tall" he is!

I forgot that I done this project and not mentioned it on my blog! I made this breast for my nephew-in-law-to-be and my niece as gag gifts! One of my breasts is now stationed in 29 Palms, Ca and the other is in Wakefield, Va! I am not sure but this may be the biggest set of cleavage a person has ever had!!!

I finally decided to get over my fear of DPN's (double pointed needles) and one Saturday sat in front of Youtube until I could figure out what the heck to do with all those needles. After practicing for a bit, I decided to make SOCKS! My sister has cold feet and I had this wool so I made Spiral Tube Socks (a Ravelry pattern) and had a lot of fun doing it! One sock is slightly shorter than the other because...well because I am impatient and wanted them done...NOW!!! Sis has yet to wear them but I have threatened her to never wash them in the machine lest they felt!

The story behind this turtle is actually really cute. One day I decided to make a whale out of Amy Gaine's Little Knitted Creatures (I am sorry, Ms. Gaines if the title of your book is really Knitted Little Creatures..I always mix it up.) In the book the whale is purple but I decided to do him in gold and brown. As I was working on the whale my 6 year old great niece, Carmen, asked to help me. I allowed her to unroll the yarn (she isn't a knitter...yet!!) Then she started looking through my copy of the knitting book. She stopped at the turtle and said: "Aunt Cathy, can you make this?" I told her that I could BUT I did not have two different color greens. She looked at me very seriously and said: "If you are making it, can't you make it any color?" So I set about to make him any color like my niece suggested! He's Rainbow Colored!!! I call him Hippie Turtle!He is made from completely recycled yarn! The green is a nice unlabeled wool I bought at Goodwill for $1.25 and the rainbow is an unknown yarn I have from unraveling a children's sweater I paid .99 cents for at Goodwill! More pics to come....

I have been sooooo neglectful of my poor blog! I am sorry! A lot of changes have happened in my life and I am having a hard time finding time to post! One change that has occurred is that I have started a Masters program and it takes a lot of my time....at least this first class....I am not sure if ALL of these classes are going to be like this or if it is just this one! I have not been knitting a lot lately and I really miss it! To tell the truth I think I am a little burned out! I made ALL that baby stuff in the beginning of the year and did not take a break! I went straight into teaching myself how to use DPN's! And then into making socks!! In between, I made some toys but since then I have been kind of fizzled on my knitting.

I became a little nervous when the first three weeks rolled around and every time I picked up the needles I could not knit a stitch. Even the patterns on Ravelry.com became uninspiring...so I took to the Ravelry forums and whined! Several great knitters explained to me that I could just be experiencing a common problem: summer knitting blahs. I am hoping that is so and when the weather starts to become chillier my knitting will increase!

I will be posting pictures as soon as I am done with this post...they will each have their own page since I am still not sure how to make the pictures a part of my blog...